Worlds Apart
by Krazy25
Summary: I never intended for my life to end up this way; do I remain in the real world where I am unhappy or do I release myself into the virtual world where my heart and soul truly thrive? [SAO Inspired Story] [100% Independent Story][M for language/content][Next Release: TBD]
1. Prologue

It's a game. This is only a game. It's not real. What happens in this game does not affect my life. But then why do I keep playing it? Why do I do everything I can to _live _in this game? If this isn't real, are the feelings I feel _fake_? Is every emotion I feel while I am in this world a _lie_? This world is the best thing that has happened in my life. I'm happy here. My life _is _here. What does that make me? Am I fake? Am I a lie? What makes this world fake and the other one real? Why can't I just stay in this world? Why can't I remain in a place where I am happy? _Who am I?_

It is amazing how much of your life can change in an instant; one moment everything is going perfectly fine, you trudge through the workload that comes with every day existence without any hesitation. Maybe everyone has a day in their life, a day where everything changes. People mostly view change as a bad thing, but maybe its not. Maybe, just maybe, the day that your life changes is the day that it actually begins...

Some of the people reading this will have no idea what I am talking about, but the others, they do. And they can picture the exact moment I am talking about in their minds, in fact, they are doing it right now. This moment, for me, came when I was sitting in my room. It had been another long day of school and work; fighting the exhaustion I flipped open my laptop to work on my studies as long as I possibly could. I was not going to let "good enough" be the words that described my life, so a pressed on. It was after hours of working and working that I dared press the icon to open up my web browser, it was at this moment that I noticed a flashing advertisement in the corner. I usually don't ever give these things the time of day, but for some reason, my eyes fixated on it. With a click, a page opened revealing the idea that would forever change my life. Virtual Reality.

It was a game, a new game. I had always had a fascination with games, the way they grabbed peoples attention, letting themselves indulge in a separate world of fantasy. It was an escape. But the game throughout history had always just been that, a game. This one, this very one that my eyes stared at, was different. For decades, technology has been on the very brink of virtual reality, and now, it had been done. A once in a lifetime opportunity had just busted down the gates of my secure, satisfactory life. Of course, I had to have it. It was in fact, at this very moment, that my life changed forever.

**Worlds Apart**

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><p><span><strong>AN:**This is the beginning of the story I plan on continuing for quite a while. Prologue is short, following chapters will not be. Updates will not be frequent, but I will try my best. Now, follow / join me on this journey.

Best,

Krazy25


	2. A Whole New World

**Chapter 1:**

_**A Whole New World**_

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><p>I pulled into the driveway, the car screeching softly as it finally came to rest. I turned off the ignition; leaning my head back onto the headrest I let out a deep breath. It was the end of another very long, exhausting day. I got out of the car, grabbing my book bag from the back seat, the cool autumn breeze felt amazing. I paused a moment, this was the most I had been outside all day, another deep breath was in order. That was enough, I had work to get done, and it certainly wasn't going to get done by standing around out here. I made my way up the driveway, on to the porch, and into the house.<p>

As I entered, my parents greeted me. They were sitting in the living room watching television, as they are most nights when I enter. We had a nice little living room, a couch and love seat being the main furniture, and a nicely sized television being the main focal point. "How was your day, son?" My dad asked, looking up from the laptop sitting on his lap.

"Just another day," I looked at him with an exhausted face that I wear quite often nowadays.

My dad smiled, "Yeah, life's a bitch that way, buddy."

I couldn't help but to smirk a little bit as I made my way down our little hallway to my room at the end, closing my door behind me. My dad was a very respectable man, he worked hard every day of his life to get where he is now. The time he spends relaxing is well deserved. My nightly routine continued as I sat at my desk, grabbing my laptop out from inside my backpack. I grabbed my headphones out of my backpack as well, wearing them always helped me focus. I let the music play, and got to work.

Time flies by easily when I work, I have an incredible way of focusing to the point where I forget, almost completely, of what is going on around me. I didn't know how long my mother was standing there, but as soon as I noticed her I flipped my headphones back around my neck, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure you had a uniform for tomorrow," she replied.

"Yeah," I answered quickly, glancing at my closet.

"So are you ever going to open that up?"

I looked at her dumbfounded for a moment, as far as I knew the conversation was over after I answered her, but following her point I found my eyes lying upon the game system I had ordered a few weeks ago, crudely shoved off into the corner, if I might add. I let out a slight sigh, "Yeah, maybe eventually. If I ever find the time," I looked up at her with a sarcastic smirk.

"There is more to life than working, son," my mom smiled at me as she closed the door, she then added, "don't stay up to late!"

"I won't!" I half yelled through the door as I knew I was lying through my teeth.

My eyes once again wondered their way over to the game system, the company's logo took up the entire side of the box. "World Generator;" I often puzzled over the name, on one hand it was incredibly simplistic, yet on the other the two words provide a gateway into endless possibilities. I'm assuming that was what the company was going for, I mean, its job is to create a virtual world, so it makes sense. I sighed, every part of my body was aching to break the console out and the first game released for it. I looked up at my ceiling, my mind turned into a battleground between what I wanted to do and what I needed to do.

I then looked down at my laptop, the screen was filled with endless lines of code. I let out a sigh; I knew the program ran flawlessly, yet I still dedicated a lot of time to going beyond the expectations of my instructor. I looked at the box again, it was like it was calling me. "Fuck it," I cursed under my breath as I closed my laptop, flipping my headphones off onto the desk.

I grabbed the box, sitting on my bed I began to slowly open it up. After what seemed liked an obsessive amount of padding, I finally got to the headset. I carefully pulled it out, staring at the glossy black finish for a second. It was quite beautiful. I set it down for a moment as I flipped through the manual, seemed pretty self explanatory: Turn it on, configure it, insert a game chip, go! I dug into the box until I found another smaller box containing the game inside it. I could barely contain my excitement as I pulled it out. The cover was absolutely beautiful; I ran my hand across the title, 'Legend,' which was embossed in a fancy script. My heart was really pounding now as I discarded all of the packaging.

I laid on my bed and made myself comfortable before grabbing the headset, I exhaled deeply in a futile attempt to calm my nerves. I slid the headset on, adjusting it accordingly to make sure it was a snug fit. The headset itself covered around three-quarters of my face, I was actually quite surprised at how light it was for its size. The front was made of some sort of transparent material. I reached to the side, feeling all over with my fingers until I located the power button, one deep swallow later, I pressed it.

A few seconds past as I laid there staring through the screen at my ceiling, when suddenly the whole screen went black. The sudden change nearly took my breath away. A lady then appeared in front of me, as if I was watching her on a television in front of my face. "Welcome user!" she started with a big smile, "I'm here to help guide you in the configuration and start of your first World Generator experience!"

As I listened to the woman go over the initial material, I couldn't help but feel extremely underwhelmed. Here I was, expecting to experience an innovative, new system that pushed the technology to its limits, and I was simply staring at, at the most, a high tech television. I let out a sigh as I followed the woman's instructions to calibrate the machine. I had to do a wide range of things, from simply touching areas of my body to actually lifting certain elements of my body. The overall process took about a half hour, at the end of which I was completely fed up with the whole thing. "I'm sure you are anxious to be on your way into whatever world you wish to enter.." The woman said.

"You got that right," I said under my breath as she continued.

"..but first, let us begin the exciting process of creating your avatar. This will be the human replication of you that is displayed in the virtual world. To start you off, we have generated an avatar that we have created based off the data inputted during the registration.."

An avatar appeared before me, "Holy shit," I couldn't believe how close the avatar was to my actual looks.

"..We hope you are pleased with the results. Now, please take your time and customize your avatar. Please note, we encourage our users to create an avatar that closely resembles their actual appearance," the lady finished with a smile, then vanished.

I quickly went to work customizing my avatar's appearance, mostly things such as hair style, eye color, and other things of that nature. I stopped for a moment, staring at my avatar, it was like a perfect version of my actual self. I was tall, just over six foot, and had a slim build, to which I exaggerated ever so slightly in my avatar. I left my hair light brown, but gave it a little more length. I naturally had a messy hair style, just sort of letting my hair do what it wants, which was reflected in my avatar but it had a little more wind blown look to it.

It was after I clicked the 'continue' icon to move on to starting clothing that I realized I had been using the controls flawlessly. I couldn't explain how, but I just created my avatar without moving a single inch of my body. Whatever I thought, the console responded by initializing that thought as a command of some sort. The programming worked effortlessly as I had moved from menu to menu, option to option, all without even realizing that I was doing so without movement. My attitude changed instantly from underwhelmed to in a state that I was pretty sure was shock.

I changed my focus back onto the screen where my avatar stood, rotating, as options for clothing were displayed all around. I glanced through different options, amazed at the vast amount of choices there were. I probably spent way too much time on this step, but I didn't care, for the first time in a long time I was thoroughly enjoying myself. After completing my character's outfit, I once again took a moment to observe my work. Though there wasn't much that I would say set me apart from the crowd, I felt that my avatar certainly looked like a bad ass. The sleeveless shirt was an almost black shade of blue, with black highlights throughout it. The pants were black along with the boots. The entire character was covered by a dark navy blue cloak, the cloak completely wrapped around the character and went down to just above the ankles. Included on the cloak was a hood that nearly engulfed my character's face. I was thoroughly satisfied with his appearance.

After clicking the complete icon, a prompt popped up, "Please enter your player's name." I stared at the blank text space, I was never good at these sort of things. My name was so original, Nicholas. I began trying to explore what I could come up with to be clever, "Nicholas Falcon," I said under my breath. Every single name that came to mind either sounded awful, or was something I couldn't see myself being called. I sighed, then smirked, I put 'Nicholas' into the field, knowing that it couldn't possibly be available. I submitted, after a few moments of checking, I was passed along to the next screen, "I'll be damned..." I muttered to myself.

The screen was completely black again with the name of the console etched, very awesomely I might add, into the background when the lady appeared once again, "You have now completed the setup of the World Generator, please insert a game chip now to begin," with a smile, she disappeared.

"Alright, here we-" I stopped mid-sentence as I felt as if I couldn't move; I took a deep breath. After a few seconds of focus and trying incredibly hard not to panic, I was able to move like normal. I took the helmet off for a moment and took a few more breaths while sitting up. The manual had warned that beginners may experience symptoms like this, it then went on and on about some technical stuff that no one has time to read. It was a little unnerving, but not enough to keep me from starting my game.

The game chip now in, I placed the helmet back on and laid back down. The same screen was on, but there was a little icon in the top right that said 'loading...'. I waited patiently. As soon as the console was done loading the chip, I launched the game.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience. After the initial launch sequence, which featured the game's name in the center screen as you looked down through the clouds at the landscape, the screen faded into darkness. It was hard to describe, but my body felt like it was weightless, like the feeling you get when you are falling. The feeling was making me nauseous, but that feeling was quickly overcome by sheer shock as I felt my feet touch the ground.

As quickly as one could open their eyes, the world of Legend was upon me. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright street lamps that gleamed above me. After my eyes finally adjusted, I stood in amazement. I lifted up my hands, looking at them I couldn't believe how realistic they were. I looked down at myself, my cloak flickered slightly in the cool night breeze. This was unbelievable. I looked up at the sky, it was a beautiful cloudless night. My eyes then drifted down, observing the objects around me. I must have been in some sort of town square, beautiful flowers surrounded the entire platform that I now realized that I was on. I found the steps in front of me, walking down I continued to look around. Tons of buildings surrounded this one spot, all of them seemed to be made of some sort of brick or stone.

Before exiting the circle garden, I was stopped by a notification display that appeared in front of me. 'Welcome to the land of Athalia!' The notification read, 'You are currently located in the Town of Beginnings, you will find everything you need here to prepare you for the ultimate journey you are about to depart on. Advisers are located periodically throughout the town. Your map, courteously provided, has now been updated with the layout of this town. For all future towns and areas, you will be on your own when it comes to mapping. Please note the rules and regulations of Legend and be sure to always act in an according manner that obeys these set rules, violators will be punished. Thank you for your time. Good luck.'

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><p>DISCLAIMER: Town of Beginnings is a town name that is mentioned in the anime Sword Art Online. This referral offers no connection to the maker of SAO. If you feel copyright has been infringed, contact me immediately.<p>

A/N: We have the beginner of our story. Stay tuned to see how Nicholas reacts to this new world. Thank you for your time, consideration, and reviews.

Best,

Krazy25


	3. Sometimes It's Good To Get Lost

**Chapter 2:**

_**Sometimes It's Good To Get Lost**_

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><p>It had been a couple weeks since my first log in; though it was just a taste, I knew I was already hooked. My mind wandered about what adventures I could embark on as I sat in this incredibly boring class. The instructor was going on and on about a certain function and its role within the example program. It's not that this stuff doesn't interest me, its the fact that I know it by heart already and hearing it again is just brutal. I looked down at my laptop, the Town of Beginnings map was displayed on the screen. The voice of my teacher became more and more faint as I studied the layout of this town. '<em>So I need to go up about two blocks then the weapon shop should be on the left..<em>' I thought to myself as I followed the planned route with my finger.

"Ahhhhh Mr. Falcon," my concentration was halted at the sound of my teachers voice, I looked up at him, "I do hope that is the program that you are focusing so hard on."

"Of course," A swift hand movement later my screen displayed the program, "why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular," my teacher smirked in the way he usually does when he feels he has caught a student slacking, "but if you are looking at the program, please, tell me and your fellow classmates why this program is miscalculating."

As more and more of my classmates turned to look at me, I grew more and more nervous. My calm demeanor diminished swiftly as my heart felt as if it were going to pound out of my chest. The best part of this whole ordeal was, I knew the answer to his dumb ass question; the source of my anxious feeling was from all of the eyes. I could not stand to be the center of attention; as I became lost in the rush of feelings I realized that I still have not answered the question. My instructor's face was beginning to show signs of impatience. "Well," I managed to spit the first word out of my mouth, "ignoring the awful syntax and terrible organization, it is because you are trying to concatenate a string instead of calculate the numbers."

I don't know what pissed my instructor off more, my insult to his example or the fact that I was right. He looked down at the floor as he spoke, "Correct, Mr. Falcon. Now, does everyone see how he was able to draw that conclusion?..." His words again trailed off as I really didn't care what he had to say.

I spent the next few minutes breathing slowly as I tried to calm my nerves a bit, I was definitely more comfortable now that no one was paying attention to me. It was quite frustrating, my anxiety, though there was little that I could do about it. Ever since I was a child, I hated being the center of attention; I was perfectly fine with blending in with the crowd. I looked up at the clock, I couldn't wait for this class to end.

It was Friday, which normally didn't matter to me because I usually work all weekend, but this time, somehow, I got all weekend off. I had put in double time on my homework all week as I knew what I would be doing all weekend. I was bound and determined to log as much time as possible in Legend this weekend; I was going to be lazy all weekend, something I hadn't done in forever. I continued planning my strategy for when I logged in as the time crept by slowly.

The feeling when I first stepped in my front door was phenomenal, I threw my backpack onto the floor as soon as I entered. My dad chuckled as he watched me do this, he knew how long I had waited for a weekend like this. After my every day smalltalk with the folks and a quick snack, I headed back to my room where I eagerly logged in.

As soon as I opened my eyes in the world of Athalia, I sprinted through the paths to find the town's armory. The town wasn't nearly as crowded as I feared it'd be, but it was still early in the afternoon. Following the map that I pulled up in front of me, I found the armory rather easily. It was a little corner building, I would have went right passed if I hadn't been looking for it. The game's armory symbol was hung proudly over the door; it was a traditional symbol, two swords crossed in front of a shield, like in most games. I opened the door, my heart thumping with excitement; a bell rang atop the door as I entered. A quite large man wearing a dirty apron and some heavy duty looking gloves came out from the back room of the shop. "Welcome!" His deep voice belted with a huge smile, "What can I help you with today?"

Honestly I just sat there and stared at him for a moment, I couldn't quite determine whether he was a player or an NPC (non-player character); actually this was the first interaction I had had with anyone inside the game. I then noticed just to the right of his head there was a name floating, as I focused on it it became more clear. "Gronk the blacksmith," I whispered under my breath, I guess he was an NPC after all.

"What can I help you with, son?" Gronk repeated, snapping me out of my daze.

"Oh, sorry," for some reason I couldn't think of what to say, my mind was blank, "I was...uh..."

"Well spit it out, boy, I have work to do," Gronk motioned towards the back room from which he had appeared from.

"Yes, sorry," I exhaled quickly, "I am looking for a starting weapon."

"Oh boy!" Gronk through his fists in the air in excitement, "I love it when new comers come by for their first weapon! It's like they come to me to help them make a choice of how they will go forth into the world! It's like a am helping people identify themselves! Because your weapon is part of who you are you know?!"

I wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question, "I kno-," I was cut off as he continued on in his speech. Since he looked as if he could kill me in one punch, I felt like letting him complete his speech was the best choice. I nodded along as he finally gave me a chance to speak, "So what weapon are you looking for, kiddo?"

"Well," I had made my way over to the mounted weapons on the wall, "I'm not quite sure."

"That's what a lot of people say, don't worry," Gronk gave me a comforting smack on the back, to which knocked every ounce of air I had out of my lungs.

I barely had time to inhale when he plopped a gigantic battleaxe in my hands, "Now this is a weapon!" He belted, not prepared for the weight I quickly hit the ground with the weapon.

"Uh...little...heavy.." I managed to say between breaths before Gronk grabbed it from me, placing back on its mount effortlessly with one hand.

"Alright," Gronk thought to himself as he grabbed it long, bushy beard, "How about a more traditional route, eh?"

He then grabbed a longsword from its mount and handed it to me. I held it in my hand, taking a few swings with it it still felt kind of heavy, but I guess I should expect that with a strength level of one. Though the smirk on Gronk's face made it seem like a perfect fit, it just didn't feel right in my hand. After a few moments, I think Gronk got the message from the expression on my face as he took the sword from me. "I'm assuming you wouldn't be a fan of maces either, would you, son?" Gronk asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Not in particular," I replied weakly, scratching the back of my head with a nervous smirk as I often did when I was nervous.

"Well that was a traditional longsword, there are many variations of swords that can be used in a variety of ways," Gronk stared at me, I almost forgot I was talking to an NPC, "Do you have some sort of idea what you are wanting to do?"

"What I'm wanting to do?" I repeated the question in a confused tone, "I'm afraid I don't-"

Gronk's raised hand caused me to stop mid-sentence, "What abilities are you looking to focus on? Strength? Defense? Speed?"

I looked towards the ground as I pondered the question, "Speed," I said looking up at him.

"Maybe a rapier would suit you?" My facial expression must have been more than enough denial for him as he quickly moved on, "Well, it terms of speed..." He trailed off as he disappeared into the backroom from which he appeared from when I first entered.

He was back there for quite a while before he reappeared with two small blades in his hands. He motioned for me to come over to the counter, to which I did. He set the two knives down on the wooden counter that was now in front of me, "I just finished these up as you walked in the door earlier," Gronk said proudly.

I barely heard a word as I was mesmerized by the beauty that was in front of me. They both had a curved edge to them, the long shining blade was enchanting. The handles were made out of some black material; I took them in my hands, first blades up. As I studied them I flipped the blades around in my hands, it felt great. I took a couple slashes into the air, "They're perfect."

A smile came across the tough man's face, "It was meant to be! Be careful with holding the blades reversed like that though, son. It may feel good on the offensive, but you are leaving yourself vulnerable in terms of defense."

I stared at him blank faced, I was so caught up in the moment that my mind decided it couldn't process any other information. "Look," he said grabbing one of the knives, "if you hold the knife like this," he then flipped it around, tip up, as you traditionally hold a knife, "and I come down with a downward strike," he made a downward strike motion, our knives clinked slightly as they met, "you will have a lot more control over how you defend yourself. Whether you choose to take the full blow or deflect," he handed the second knife back to me. "That being said, if you are going for a more swift, agile attacking motion, the way you were holding it will be just fine," I didn't think his smirk could get any bigger.

"Thank you," I smiled back, "Out of curiosity, what grade are these?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" He belted loudly, "those are made from the highest quality steel that I could get my hands on in this area. Which, for starting purposes, is more than enough for you."

"Interestin-" He really likes to cut people off.

"But wait! There's more! All of my weapons are sold with the guarantee of unlimited refinement!"

I laughed, "Trying to sell me now, are ya?"

He smirked back, "I had a sell as soon as you walked in, son!"

I continued to chuckle, "Alright, what's the price?"

"Hmmmm," He stroked his beard once again as he thought, "I'd say 80 gold should do it."

I felt as if one of the knives had stabbed me in the heart, all the excitement went away as I realized, I can't afford it. "Sorry, Gronk," he looked at me puzzled, "I've only got my starting 50 gold here. This was my first stop upon logging in."

He stared at me for a few seconds that seemed to last a lifetime, "Alright, kid, here is what is going to happen," he smirked at me, "you give me 40 gold now, and you can pay off the remainder once you go out and kick some ass with those beauties."

My excitement quickly returned as I graciously accepted the offer, "Thanks, Gronk!"

"My pleasure, kid," He said as he accepted my payment, "Be careful out there."

One last smile was in order as I made my way toward the door. "Hold up there," Gronk stopped me as I was halfway out of the door, "You may need this," he dropped a harness into my hand.

"Thank you, for everything," I said as I walked out the door; I didn't look back, but I swear that man was still grinning ear to ear as I left.

I found myself in the grasslands just outside the town, it was a beautiful landscape. The vibrant, green grass shined bright for miles on as the landscape stretched out onto the horizon. The perfectly clear, blue sky was something to truly marvel at. There I stood, in the middle of it all, awe struck. My cloak gracefully fluttered as it caught the cool day's breeze as it traveled through the landscape. My knives, firmly held in place by the harness attached to the back side of my waist, were slightly visible as the cloak continued to flutter. I smiled, it was time to begin my journey into the unknown.

I sprinted through the grasslands, not following a path, not to get away from anything, but just for the feeling of freedom. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I ran and ran; I ran until I had to stop. My depleted stamina imitated the feeling of being out of breath, I was actually surprised at how realistic it felt. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was actually gasping for air. I crouched over, hands on my knees, as I breathed heavily and watched my stamina bar slowly regenerate.

A snort from some sort of creature startled me, looking up I noticed quite a large bull that was not very happy with me disturbing him. He was completely black with unnervingly large horns, his eyes focused in on me as he gave out another snort. I slowly moved both hands behind my back, grabbing a hold of each knife as I studied the animal. As I focused in on him a small health bar popped up next to him, just above it were the words "Wild Bull." '_This should be a good test_,' I thought to myself as I drew my weapons and crouched slightly into a more battle ready position.

A loud snort later the bull charged at me, I was shocked by the speed of the animal, before I knew it it was upon me. Just as it lowered its head, I dashed off to the side, swiping my blade up the side of the animal. It threw on the brakes after realizing it missed me, tearing up the grass as its hooves drove into the ground. I quickly turned and crouched back into my fighting stance as it turned around towards me. I didn't have time to assess how much damage I had done as he charged at me again, this time it lunged towards me when I expected it to lower its head. The maneuver made me hesitate just long enough to miss my time frame to dodge, so I followed my instinct. I dropped to the ground, slashing its stomach as it flew over the top of me; I watched as the animal crashed into the ground. I stood up as its health bar drained to nothing, then it shattered into thousands of shards.

I celebrated loudly as a prompt showed up in front of me showing the results of the battle. I had gained, what I felt, was a good chunk of experience. After which I quickly scanned the area to make sure that no one heard me, I laughed out loud at myself, then continued in the direction I had been.

After quite a ways walk, I found myself coming to the edge of the grassland. The terrain quickly turned into a thickness of brush and trees in front of me, I stood at the edge of what looked to be a monstrous forest. I pondered my next move, the last thing I wanted to do was get lost in the forest and tally my first death. I had no idea what creatures lurked inside this dense, deciduous forest. I took a deep breath, and entered slowly.

I crept along at a slow pace, actually, I think a slug on the ground passed me. I had never felt so alert and alive in my life, my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest as I made my way into this unknown area. I guess the threat of attack had gotten my adrenaline pumping. After moving quite a ways into the forest, my suspicions were confirmed at the sound of crackling leaves and ground brush coming from some distance to my left. I crouched, staring down the direction of the noise, '_what a cliché way to die,' _I thought to myself as I focused on the area. The noises continued, getting slightly louder with every crinkle, but still I saw nothing. '_What in the world could it be...' _I pondered as the noise increased, _'whatever it is, its certainly heavy on its feet.'_

"Whatcha doin?" My heart stopped as I heard a female voice behind me; I started to turn around, "not so fast there," I felt a blade jabbing into my backside.

"Can I turn around?" I asked.

"Maybe I'm a villain that doesn't want my identity known!" The overall high pitch tone in her voice was enough to make me snicker with laughter, "Hey!" She jabbed the blade deeper making its presence known. I glanced at my health bar just in case, still full.

"Sorry," I said halfheartedly.

"Drop all of your items and move it," I could tell she was trying to use a more serious tone, it still wasn't at all intimidating.

"Did you hear that noise over there before?" I focused in front of me, completely ignoring her orders.

I couldn't see her face, but it definitely would have a pissed off look if I could have seen it, "Are you stupid? You think I'm going to fall for that? That's the oldest trick in the book!"

Tuning this woman out, I tried my best to focus on the area from which I had heard the noise, for some reason, I had a feeling it was more of a threat. "Are you even listening to me?!" She screamed.

"Shut up!" I glared back at her, catching a glimpse of her hazel eyes, which, were actually quite dazzling.

I didn't hear a word she was saying as she went off on some sort of rant, all of my focus and ability was being funneled to this one area. Out of all the noise, one stood out, it was quick and sharp. For some reason I couldn't put my finger on it though, then, it hit me. "Get down!" I barked as I flipped around, grabbing her by the back of her neck and dragging her to the ground as an arrow whistled by.

"Holy shit!" She screamed, looking up in shock.

"Lets go!" I screamed as I sprinted towards the area of our attacker, knives drawn.

"Are you crazy?!" She screamed as she stood up.

I continued dashing towards where I believed the enemy was, breaking my pattern every few steps to avoid an arrow just in case he was aiming in on me. I caught a glimpse of an outline of something in front of me, it was definitely a human figure. I leaped over some brush in front of me, the figure was clearer now, he had his bow still drawn. "Fuck!" I planted my foot and pushed off, causing myself to change my direction significantly. Not a moment after I did so an arrow flew by, scratching past my right arm. The sudden change in direction cause me to tumble to the ground, to which I recovered quickly; I knew I had to keep moving as fast as I could.

I was approaching my attacker quickly from the side, I didn't know how I was going to get close to him since he followed my every movement. I decided to take a risk, I dashed out into a perfect line of sight for my attacker. As soon as I landed my stride, I knew the arrow would be away. As soon as my body let me after landing, I pulled myself to cut back to the side. As expected, the arrow fired, again narrowly missing a full hit but scratched enough to take some health. With all my might I launched myself in a full throttle attack towards my attacker. _'Almost there!'_ I pushed myself to get there faster.

"Dammit," I cursed under my breath as everything slowed down. My attacker had just drew back another arrow, I was no more than ten feet away from where he stood. I was in mid-stride, neither of my feet were on the ground, so dodging seemed to be an impossible task at this point. My eyes locked with his, I don't know how mine appeared in his eyes, but his scared the shit out of me. They were blood red, obviously this guy was an evil character of some sort.

The arrow released, I watched as the power from the flexed bow transferred into the propelling force of the arrow. My left foot was nearly to the ground, my next move was not only going to have to be clever, but it was going to have to be fast. As fast as everything slowed down in front of me, it sped back up. As my left foot planted on the ground I pushed with all the power I could muster to alter my course just enough. The arrow slashed through the left side of my chest, just under my armpit, as it flew past. I slashed upwards as I finally made it within striking distance of my attacker, he spun around and away, causing most of my attack to miss. I gathered my feet while facing my attacker, he drew a single knife and lunged at me going for a stab attack.

I caught his knife with mine, altering his attack to my side as I slashed through his shoulder. He stumbled by me. I quickly was upon him with a downward strike, our knives clashing as he managed to block in time. Spinning around I landed a slashing attack, finishing my spin I prepared to go for a final fatal blow. As soon as I went for it, an arrow shot out of nowhere struck him in the chest, the momentum dragging him slightly as he fell to the ground. A look of shock came across my face as I looked at my lifeless attacker, his body then shattering into thousands of shards and disappearing.

I looked towards where yet another arrow had been fired in my general direction, I was really starting to have a distaste for archers. There she was, my attempted robber, standing straight up, bow still in its firing position. She lowered the bow, "You're welcome."

"Yeah, thanks for stealing my experience points," I looked at her with disgust.

"Hey! That's not what someone should say to their savior!" She said as she shook her bow at me.

This was the first opportunity I had really gotten to get a good look at her, she was a brunette. She had shortish hair, enough to barely graze her shoulders; she was wearing some sort of light armor. It covered most of her body, it was a less than tasteful dark green color with a darker shade border around it. I couldn't believe it, but I think I finally found someone with paler skin than me. As I continued to study her figure her face grew more and more flustered, "Why are you looking at me like that? Creep!"

"Studying my attacker, of course," I still had my knives drawn, but didn't really plan on using them.

"You really think I would try to shoot you after saving your ass? If I kill you then how are you going to repay me for the graciousness I just showed you?"

I couldn't hide the look of disgust on my face, "Are you forgetting who saved your ass earlier? You're welcome by the way!" I sheathed my knives and started to turn away.

"Where do you think you are going?!" She stomped her foot at me, it was kinda hot, not gonna lie.

"Back to town," I continued walking in whatever random direction I was going.

I heard footsteps approaching me quickly as she ran to catch up to me; "And which way is that, oh wise one?" She asked as she stepped in front of me, looking at me with a serious look. Wow she was cute.

"This-" I looked ahead of me, nothing but forest.

Bewildered, I pulled up my map, it showed me within a small space, but offered no help as to which direction the town was. "First time in a forest, huh?" Her serious look turned into a mocking grin. Wow, cute dimples too.

I sighed as I looked up into the trees, glimpses of the sky could be see through the swarm of leaves, "Fine, which way?"

"I don't know," She shrugged her shoulders.

"Are you kidding me?!" I looked at her with a shocked expression.

"No," she looked back at me, "I was trying to find my way when I stumbled upon some weird guy crouching in the bushes."

"Fantastic..." I mumbled under my breath, "So we're lost."

She turned around and walked a few steps in front of me, then turned back with a smile, "That's the fun part of this game, you can just get lost. Sometimes its good to get lost."

I let a small smile creep out as she continued to walk, this was turning out to be one eventful day in the world of Athalia.

* * *

><p>AN: And so we have our first taste of what Athalia has in store for Nicholas. I hope you enjoyed the fight scene as much as I enjoyed writing it, imagined in my head it was fantastic, I can only hope I painted a good enough image in your minds as well. So who is this new woman? Friend? Foe? Delightful pain in the ass? Find out next time.

Best,

Krazy25


	4. The Secret of the Forest

**Chapter 3**

_**The Secret of the Forest**_

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><p>"Go!" I screamed as I sprinted as fast as I could. Dusk had fallen a while ago, and with it awakened the creatures of the forest. In our particular case, a pack of ill mannered wolves had decided that we were dinner. We sprinted through the dark forest, being chased by steps and howls. She was in front of me, my now companion that I had so fortunately ran into earlier. The darkness had fallen quickly upon us, we were making great travel time before dusk, though we were still lost in this massive forest.<p>

"Dammit," I heard her curse as she stumbled to the ground in front of me.

By the time I got to her I could feel the steps of our attackers right on my heels, I slammed my foot into the ground just before her, spinning around. I picked up the lunging wolf pretty quickly, his ferocious teeth were dying to dig into me. Fortunately for me, all he got was a mouth full of blade as I shoved him off to the side with my knife. I didn't anticipate a second so soon as it lunged and latched onto my shoulder. I flipped the wolf over my shoulder as I watched a good chunk of my health bar dissipate. I did my best to fight them off, there seemed to be a never ending string of them, one attacking right after the other. As soon as she could, my companion regained her feet, firing arrows as fast as she could at the oncoming attackers.

"Look out!" I caught one coming up from the side out of the corner of my eye, I turned around and shoved her forward as it lunged, pulling myself back as it flew in between us.

As soon as she hit the ground she flipped over towards me, arrow drawn, "Duck!" she screamed as she released the arrow. Barely having time to react, I followed her orders as the arrow whizzed by my head. I heard a loud yelp as one landed next to me, _'holy shit,_' I thought to myself as the wolf shattered into nothing.

There was no time to wasted as I deflected another oncoming attack. I wasn't fast enough to defend myself against one that threw itself upon me, causing me to fall flat on my back, my forearm being the only thing between its jaws and my face. It snarled ruthlessly, desperately biting at me; I mustered up all of strength and managed to shove it off, to which an arrow dropped it immediately. "Come on!" She screamed as she let a few more arrows fly.

Once again we ran, we had no idea in what direction we were running, but anywhere was better than where we were. We ran for what seemed like an eternity; finally I had to stop as my stamina bar wouldn't let me go on any farther. I looked around expecting another attack, "We need to find somewhere safe, fast," She said as she looked around.

I looked up, "How safe do you think the trees are?"

She looked up as well, "Safer than down here," she threw her bow around her neck and hoisted herself up the nearest tree, to which I followed.

We scrambled probably three-quarters of the way up the tree, I have no idea why we went so high, but I do know that it immediately made me feel safer. We found a couple of thick, sturdy branches to rest on, I ran my hands through my hair as I continued to breathe heavily. "Well," I looked over at her, she was leaning up against the main trunk of the tree, "that was close."

"You ain't kidding," she replied as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now what?" I tried to see what was happening on the forest floor, to no prevail.

"I'm not sure," she briefly looked over at me then looked away.

I was having a bit of trouble figuring this girl out, of course my problem probably was I was trying to figure out a girl in the first place. She had a joking, almost childish demeanor about her when we first met, but when shit hit the fan she turned into this calm, collected bad ass. I looked out towards the endless darkness, "I never got your name."

She said nothing, my words just lingered in the cool night air, I was starting to regret saying anything until she finally spoke up, "Tell you what, if we get out of here without dying, I'll tell you my name."

I smirked, "Fair enough."

"Of course, with your skills that won't happen."

I turned around, staring at her, "Hey! I held my own!"

She looked over with me with a smirk, "You call getting pinned down holding your own?"

"It came out of nowhere!" I tried to plead my case with hand motions.

She laughed, "Whatever you say," she then made a few hand motions, probably going through her inventory, and a rope appeared in her hands, "Here," she threw one end to me, "Help me wrap it around the tree."

We tied the rope off, securing both of us to our respective branches and to the tree, "What is the point of this?" I asked.

"I'm logging out, I'm not going to sit here all night," she looked at me, my dumbfound face suggested I needed more reasoning, "Unless you want to stay logged in all night, be my guest."

"No, but why can't we log out?" I looked at her confused.

"Seriously?" Her face showed disbelief, "We aren't in a safe zone, when we log out here our bodies remain."

I really felt stupid, "Oh..."

"Did you really not know that?" She still was shocked.

I shook my head, "It's kinda my first day, so I don't know much, honestly."

I think her jaw managed to hit the forest floor as she looked at me, "Are you kidding me?!" She exclaimed. Again, I shook my head.

She then turned away from me, looking out into the darkness, "Then how did you..." Her voice trailed off.

"How did I what?"

"Nothing," she said without turning towards me, "Log in at seven in the morning sharp, or I'm leaving your ass," I didn't even have time to reply as she swiped her hand, then her body slumped against the tree, lifeless.

I swiped my hand, clicking the log out prompt; my entire screen went black for a moment, then as it faded, I found myself staring at my ceiling. I just laid there, staring at my ceiling for several minutes, _'What was she so puzzled about...'_ I thought to myself.

As I prepared for bed, I couldn't help but keep a smile on my face. This one day I had spent in the world of Athalia was easily more fun than the last year or so of my real life. Ever since college started, it was all I did. I would put forth all of my effort into my school, trying my best to push my education to the next level, and any leftover energy I did have went to work. I laid down in my bed, I was exhausted from my adventure. I replayed the events from my day over and over again in my head, I couldn't get enough of it. At some point I must have fallen asleep, and I'm almost positive that I had a smile on my face when I did.

I was logged in at 7 AM sharp, I was relieved to find my character made it through the night safely in the tree. I looked around, a light morning mist filled the forest, the forest floor being barely visible below. I looked over at my companion, she was still out apparently, I untied myself and stood up. Though in a virtual world, I still felt the need to stretch, after which I gave out a nice big yawn. I decided to climb the full height of the tree to try and get a better look around. Once I reached the top, I looked around until I spotted some faint smoke rising up in the distance. _'Maybe its a town,' _I thought to myself as I noted the direction it was in, then descended.

I found my companion ready to go by the time I got back down to where she was. "I half expected you to either oversleep or be gone by the time I logged in," She said as we made our way down to the bottom of the tree.

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know," she looked around the forest floor, "You just got that loner vibe, I guess."

I didn't know how to take that, as a compliment or an insult, "Thanks," I replied, then pointed in the direction of the smoke, "I saw some smoke rising from an area in this direction. Maybe its a town."

"Or a band of thieves that will kill us," she stared at me, blank faced.

I smiled at her, "Guess we will have to see," I said as I started walking.

She shook her head as she followed me, "Oh god, you're a morning person aren't you?"

After a good hour or so walk, we found ourselves coming to what looked to be a clearing in the forest. The more we walked, the less dense the forest became. I didn't anticipate what we were about to find, we both stopped and looked on in awe as we came upon what looked to, in fact, be a town, but not any like I've ever seen before. The entire town was suspended within the trees, a staircase in front of us led up into one of the town's series of decks. As I climbed the staircase I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, I looked around as entire shops were built on top of the decks. It was a small town, but still was quite large for how it was built. Stairs led in every different way leading to different shops and buildings that were situated around the forest's trees.

As I scanned around the town, admiring the beauty, I couldn't help but noticed there was only a few people in the town, besides anyone who was actually inside the buildings. I looked over at my companion, "Have you ever been here before?"

She simply shook her head, I think she was in just as much shock as I was at this place. Neither of us noticed the old man making his way up to us, "Hello there youngsters," he said as he stood in front of us.

We both stared at him blank faced for a few seconds until I spoke up, "What is this place?"

"This," the old man held his hand out, "is the town of Edgewood."

"I've never heard of this place," my companion still looked shell shocked.

"That's because this is one of the only towns that is located in a forest, and," he pointed to us, "as you know, navigating inside a forest can be quite difficult."

"So this place is untraceable," I mumbled.

"Exactly," He took a nice, deep breath, "That's the beauty of this place. Those who find it are lucky, but will likely never find it again."

"Awesome," my companion walked passed the old man and on into the town.

"You don't happen to know the way out of the forest do you?" I asked the old man, or, as his title read 'Edgewood Elder'.

He thought for a moment, "The quickest way would be to continue East, that will take you to a vast grassland, then just passed that is the town of Fallon."

"Thank you," I smiled at the old man, then started to walk past him into the town.

"I do suggest," I turned to hear the old man, "that you enjoy your stay, for you never know when you may return," he smiled.

"Will do!" I replied excitedly as I made my way into the town.

Time seem to fly by as I explored the town, I made sure that I visited every shop that they had. The NPC's were incredibly friendly, every place I went I ended up having an in depth conversation with one of them about something. I actually learned quite a bit from them, as far as little hints about traveling in the forest and what not. "Wow," I had just noticed my game clock.

The NPC I had been talking to in the general merchandise store stared at me blank faced until I explained myself, "I just noticed it's already three in the afternoon," soon after my stomach growled in reassurance that it had been quite some time since my last meal.

The little old lady, the owner of the shop, smiled at me, "Time sure does fly."

After saying our goodbyes, I headed out of the store in search for my companion; oddly enough, I hadn't seen her since we arrived. A few questions later, I found her in the weapons shop having a heated discussion with the blacksmith. "200 gold is my final offer," the muscular man, who scarily resembled Gronk, crossed his arms at my companion, who looked quite tiny next to him.

"That's bullshit!" She screamed as she pointed at him, "I'm wanting a simple upgrade not to purchase a whole new damn bow!"

"Look little girl," his hands slammed against the counter with a thump, "I've already lowered the price as far as it is going to go. Take it or leave it."

I stood there awkwardly as a staring contest ensued, which looked pretty funny with the height difference. After a forever long, awkward silence, my companion finally paid the man and handed over her bow, never breaking eye contact. The man's face instantly turned to a smile, "should be good to go in about 5 hours."

She turned to find me standing in the doorway, "Are you just going to stand there?"

"Well you guys were arguing-" I was quickly interrupted.

"We were negotiating, actually, just business," She said as a muffled, "She's right," came from the back room where the blacksmith was already working.

I nodded slightly as her stare was making me incredibly nervous, "Did you need something?"

"Yeah," I scratched the back of my head, "I was just letting you know I am logging out for a little while, but I'll be back."

"K," She replied, still staring.

_'This has to be the most awkward moment of my entire life,'_ I thought to myself as I was frozen in front of her, unable to move for some god forsaken reason.

"What do you need my permission or something?!" She belted out at me as she waved her hand in the air.

"Um...no," I looked at the ground then turned to head out the door.

"I'll be here," I heard her say as I exited.

As I removed the headgear, I sat up on the side of my bed, letting my eyes and mind adjust back to the real world. I looked at my phone, I had a text from my mother, 'Hope you are having fun. Dad and I are out running errands, will pick you up for dinner around 5?' I sent a reply agreeing as I got up to explore the house, yeah, it was empty. I looked out the back sliding door, it was quite a nice day outside. I grabbed a cold water from the fridge, a snack, and a book of mine and headed out the front door. I was met by the suns warmth as I made my way down the street to the local park.

This was often my way of relaxing during the school year, at least while the weather was nice. Every once in a while, which as of late seemed to be long whiles, I would take a book and go to the park, just to clear my head. Being outside helped me think, whether it was the lovely view or the fresh air, and the book, well, that's just for good measure.

I headed over to my usual spot, right on the hillside looking out towards the small lake that people occasionally fished in, some buildings being visible in the background along with a whole lot of woodland. As I plopped down onto the hillside I took a nice, deep breath of the fresh air. It had a little nip to it, signifying winter was approaching soon. I looked out onto the lake, some ducks were swimming across the water, a lady walking her dog along the other side; it was peaceful. I opened my granola bar, flipped open my book, and let the words take me away.

After a few chapters I set the book down and looked out onto the landscape once again, all I could really think about is logging back in to Legend. As strong as the urge was and as badly as I wanted to give into it, I wouldn't. I couldn't find a reason why I wouldn't, but I decided that this was more important at the moment, and dinner with my family. After all, it is just a game. An incredibly epic game, but still just a game. My goals in life shouldn't be centered around such a thing, school should and will be my top priority. I let a smile creep out, it's funny how I have to convince my own mind to not play a game. I feel like I'm lecturing myself on what I should do, as if there were two of me.

My buzzing phone snapped me out of my daze, it was my mother letting me know they are close. "Until next time," I whispered into the air as I took another breath, then got up. As soon as I got back to the house, my parents arrived to pick me up. We met up with some family at the usual seafood restaurant to where I was hugged and kissed enough to make it seem like I was back from war or something. Having dinner with the whole family was nice, though most of the time I just sat there and listened to everybody talk, at least until the subject turns to my education. Here I was, a sophomore in college, and my grandpa was already trying to make plans for my master's degree. I guess you can never plan too far ahead.

"So where are you planning to go after you get your bachelor's?" My grandfather asked as they placed the food down in front of him.

"Haven't really thought that far ahead," I smiled, "I'd like to at least get one degree first."

"Smart boy like you will have no problem, though my alma mater guarantees job placement after school. Sometimes I worry about the kind of education my grandson is getting."

"Guess we will have to wait and see," I tried to just bury my face in my food, I hated talking about myself.

I let the conversation fade out as I just continued to nod along to my grandfather's speech, then the ensuing argument between multiple family members about the importance of education. I looked over at my father who simply smirked back at me, we always stayed out of the debates. Little did I know that an unforeseen dramatic turn in the conversation was about to unfold, "So," my grandma looked at me from the other side of the table, "any ladies made it into your life yet?"

The topic I was most hoping to avoid this evening, or every evening for that matter. "Well," I took a drink of my water as I tried to piece together a sentence that would let the conversation turn to a point that didn't involve my grandparents trying to set me up, "Between work and school I don't really have the time, and with what happened with the last one I don't particularly care to dive back into another relationship right now."

"That's rubbish," my grandma shook her hand at me, "You just need the right girl to treat you the way you deserve."

'_Failure...' _I thought to myself as she dug around in her purse for her phone.

"Here it is," she opened the phone then proceeded to scribble something down on a napkin.

I just sat there, blank faced, as my parents were trying to keep from cracking up as she walked over and handed me the napkin, "This is a nice young lady that does my hair, she's a little older than you but she is just precious. You would love her."

"Thanks..." I said with a slight eye roll as soon as she turned away.

My dad was sure to seize the opportunity that had just presented itself, "So what's going to be your opening, son?" His wide grin was met by my hateful glare.

"I'll let you know later," I stared at him as I put the napkin away.

"Or now," My mom joined in.

I had never felt so embarrassed in my entire life after that dinner. I guess on the bright side I did leave with some random woman's number and a page and a half of meaningful icebreakers. As much as I hate to admit it, spending that kind of time with family may be dreadful, embarrassing, and weird, but I enjoyed myself. I didn't even notice it was already after eight when we got home, I was too busy scrutinizing my parents over dragging me into that situation, to which they just laughed. I didn't even motion to my room as I sat down in the living room and talked with my parents. It wasn't until a little later that I realized that my companion in the other world was probably still waiting on me. "Dammit," I jumped off the couch and ran into my room, closing the door behind me.

As soon as I opened my eyes in Athalia, I started looking across the town for her. I stopped and asked a couple NPC's if they had seen her, but they weren't much help. The blacksmith from earlier informed me that she had already picked up her weapon, and that was the last that he saw of her. After searching all across town for a girl that I didn't even know her name, I went into the small tavern that was near the middle of the town. I found myself a table, as I sat down there was only one thought that came across my mind, '_Did she leave?'_

* * *

><p>AN: There we have it, the fourth chapter in our journey. I went back and forth on how I wanted to write this chapter a lot. In the end I loved the way it turned out, this is the first time we really got to experience Nicholas' personality outside the game (other than a little here and a little there). I can not wait to see how the next chapter plays out!

Best,

Krazy25


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